Sean Hannity

About

Sean Hannity is an American conservative talk show host and political commentator, known for his work on the Fox News network. Since coming the station, he has been criticized for reporting unsubstantiated allegations towards various political figures, which has led to some consider him a "conspiracy theorist."

History

Sean Hannity was born in New York City, New York on December 30th, 1961. After high school, Hannity dropped out of New York University and Adelphi University, before starting his first radio talk show at UC Santa Barbara, which was canceled after less than a year.

After several years of working as a conservative radio broadcast, Roger Ailes hired Hannity to host Hannity & Colmes, a news talk show starring the conservative Hannity and liberal Alan Colmes. In 2008, Alan Colmes left the series and Hannity was given his own show, Hannity.

During this time, Hannity continued to work on radio, first at WABC, as the afternoon host from 1998 to 2013, and then WOR starting in 2013.^[1][2]

Throughout his career, he has authored three books: Let Freedom Ring: Winning the War of Liberty over Liberalism, Deliver Us from Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism and Conservative Victory: Defeating Obama’s Radical Agenda.

Reputation

Hannity's brash reporting and commentating style has led to him being consdiered one of the foremost extreme conservative talk show hosts in America. On liberalism, he has said:^[3]

"There has never been a greater choice for the American people than we have now. Modern liberalism seems to have forgotten the fact that if America hadn't paid the price, blood, sweat and hard work and the financial burden, we wouldn't have freedom in the world.

"I have liberal friends. They are misguided, they are wrong. I disagree with them. I don't want them to vote. I want them to go on vacation in November. They can move in next door. We can play tennis. We can play golf. Our kids can play together. We can go out to dinner -- I know I will probably pay. And, you know, I just don't want them in power."

Hannity has been compared to other conservative hosts such as Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh. In 2002, Publicist Rusty Cawley called him "the Pepsi to Rush's Coke."^[2]

In 2009, Talkers Magazine^[4] ranked him #2 in a list of the 100 most important radio talk show hosts in America.

The Washington Post said of Hannity's values:

"What Hannity has stood for -- at least for the past couple of years -- is Trump. Rival TV host Joe Scarborough calls him Trump’s lap dog."

Michael Cohen Revelation

On April 16th, 2018, Donald Trump's legal team presented a case to U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood in Manhattan, arguing that his legal team should be allowed to review the documents obtained from an April 9th FBI raid of Trump attorney Michael Cohen before his own Justice Department in the ongoing Russiagate investigation. Michael Cohen was ordered to attend the hearing.^[6]

Cohen's lawyers argued that the documents seized violate attorney-client privilege Cohen had with previous clients. However, Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas McKay pointed out that Cohen had been doing little work as a lawyer recently, and pointed to a letter in which Cohen revealed he only had three clients. McKay also stated "this investigation and the search is largely focused on his private business dealings and his private financial dealings," thus Cohen's argument that privileged information had been taken from clients in the raid was moot.

Two of Cohen's clients were already known: the President and Elliott Broidy, a former Republican National Committee official who resigned following reports he had impregnated a former Playboy model in an extramarital affair.^[7] Judge Wood ordered Cohen's lawyers to reveal the third and eventually it was revealed that Cohen's third client is Sean Hannity. After that revelation, Hannity told a Wall Street Journal journalist, "We have been friends a long time. I have sought legal advice from Michael."

The revelation led to speculation that because Cohen's other two clients both were deeply involved with sex scandals, Hannity may be as well.^[8] It also cast Hannity's coverage of Russiagate in a new light, as Hannity had run several segments staunchly against the Russia probe and Cohen yet never disclosed that Cohen was his lawyer. After the revelation became public, Hannity tweeted that he never retained Cohen as a lawyer or paid him any legal fees, only sought his council. He also tweeted that none of his discussions involved a third party, indicating he had not spoken to Cohen about a potential sex scandal. A thread in /r/politics^[9] compiling news pieces about the revelation gained over 2,200 points in an hour.

Criticism

Many of criticized Hannity for promoting various unsubstatiated claims and conspiracy theories. In the past he has been known to promote the Birther Movement, the murder of Seth Rich, claims of election fraud, the deep state, Sharia Law, and various unsubstantiated claims against Hilary Clinton, including Uranium One. He's also one of the few media personalities to support the seante candidacy Roy Moore, following numerous allegations of sexual misconduct with minors. Additionally, he has described climate change as "phony science from the left."

Of these various controversies, the Washington Post^[5] described him as "repeatedly embraces storylines that prove to be inaccurate." Vox^[6] has called him "the media’s top conspiracy theorist."

Personal Life

Hannity married Jill Rhodes in 1993. The couple have had two children together.

Related Memes

#FireHannity

#FireHannity is a hashtag campaign to have Fox News Reporter and TV Host Sean Hannity fired from Fox News for spreading misinformation to favor the Donald Trump administration, particularly with regards to Seth Rich’s Death.

Keurig Boycott

Keurig Boycott refers to an online campaign against the coffeemaker company Keurig after the brand withdrew advertisements from the Fox News show Hannity in response to host Sean Hannity’s speculated that sexual misconduct allegations against Alabama district attorney Roy Moore could be politically motivated.

Sean Hannity's Hillary Clinton Web of Corruption

Sean Hannity’s Hillary Clinton Web of Corruption refers to a series of photoshopped images and image macros based on a segment from the Fox News commentary show Hannity, in which host Sean Hannity presented a web of corrupt activities that lead to Hillary Clinton. Online, people mocked Hannity and the image for propagating conspiracy theories.

Search Interest

External References